You've Been ACCEPTED (now how do I get there?)!

My first question (since I have HOARDS of readers) is, when your Significant Other was accepted into medical school, how did you respond?

Did you cry?
Did you laugh?
Did you panic?
Did you cheer?
Other (super exhaustive list, I know)!?

Or did you do all at once resulting in a crazy epileptic break-dance of joy and fear?

Did you feel like you were in the movie UP?

ADVENTURE IS OUT THEEEERRRREEE!!

^I can almost promise you watching that clip will be the best four minutes of your day!

Grenada is in the West Indies, it's like India, BUT WEST! :)

After you are done being excited about moving your clubhouse and saving blank pages for all the "Stuff I'm Going to Do" you will wonder, just like Ellie,

"Only, I just don't know how I am going to GET to Paradise Falls Grenada!"

And although it would be awesome to ride in a blimpe, or float up comfortably suspended by balloons, most of us just take an airplane.




When you are booking your airfare and looking at airlines and itineraries, here is a good expectation to have.



You have American Airlines all the way to Grenada or you might find routes that includes Liat or Caribbean Airlines.

You may get lucky and have a good experience, I hope you do, for both of us!

Caribbean Airlines: Is what I call Caribbean Luggage roulette. But instead of spinning a barrel with a bullet, you put your bags on the belt at the concierge and as it rolls away, you gamble ever seeing it again in the next week, or month.

Liat Airlines: Is where you should bust a hole in the window and dive off the plane with some awesome luggage and float to Grenada because you'd get there faster, and your luggage would be guaranteed.



And America Airlines is just a pain. They like to raise prices around when students enter and leave the island and they also like to randomly cancel legs of your flight, maybe they will tell you, maybe they won't. Also maybe they will charge you for the second bag, but also maybe not.

Delta also flies to Grenada.

Generally, I stick to American. And I avoid long layovers in the icebox Trinidad and Tobago Airport. I never thought I was so close a chilly frozen death than when I was in that airport. And that is coming from a Desert Rat who lived in Utah for a spell. Yeah.

Buying your fare is always an unfortunate ordeal. Here are some suggestions from other SOs (Significant Others) that I shamelessly took from the SOs of SGU Facebook page.

-Use sites such as these to find a good deal, and don't forget to compare different days if your dates are flexible:

• Booking straight from the Airline can sometimes be the cheapest, and it also often makes it easier to make changes and adjustments. 
• Kayak
• Priceline
• OneTravel 
• CheapOAir

-Try splitting up your trip by booking separately. For example, fly to New York, and from NY to Grenada. Or fly to Trinidad (Port of Spain) and from there to Grenada. Might be worth it, might not. But worth a look.

-Pay attention to travel embargoes and your luggage amounts so you can pack accordingly.
When I landed in Trinidad for my layover, I had to collect my luggage, go through customs, leave the airport, and walk back in to re-check my bags through Caribbean Airlines. Although AA allowed me to have two checked bags no problem, Caribbean Airlines kinda hassled me about it, but in the end with a smile, wink, shimmy, and wide-eyed I-barely-understand-anything-because-of-your-accent look I got the second bag on without problems.

Good luck with your travel itinerary and remember:

Grena- WHAT?! (.gif packed action!)

When my dearest husband told me that he was going to apply to a medical school in the Caribbean, I laughed. I think I was conscientous enough to laugh on the inside, and my outward manifestion of desperation was masked by wide eyes.

"Huh?"





I mean, I knew he wanted to have options... but I wasn't about to sign up for some crack-pot-voodoo-magic-med-school.

*ahem*

The days went on and I began to think, "lounging in the sun for a couple years couldn't be THAT bad!" 



Then I used my debit card to pay for the application. And things got REAL.



So like any self-respecting, self-proclaimed Social Scientist would do, I got to work researching. I attacked the information with ferocity! I found the Significant Others web page, I read blogs, I took notes (nerd alert!).

And I cried.



I'm not afraid to admit that. Plus, that was in my younger and more vulnerable days.

And then came the move back in with my parents, the acceptance letter, the crappy buffer jobs, and all of a sudden, we were packed and sitting in LAX for the world's most anxiety packed trip.

I must have been in a fugue state or something. Because almost a year later, here I am!

All jokes aside (because honestly, a fugue state might've been better ha...ha...ha).

My intention is to write a series of GRENADA posts to help my fellow SOs, ex-pats, and adventure-lovers -pack, arrive, and adjust to the adventure of living in Grenada! :)

Welcome.